New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-07-25
THE BIG TREES.
A LETTER FROM ELLIOTT F. SHEPARD.

n
To the Fdttor OF The Tribune
SIR: When the Hon. Henry Hitchcock. OF the
st. Louis bar WAS In England, friend showed him q
fine specimen of the Welln Britain Mica ggsotia
and he assured hrs friend that the Sequoa American
pipantis rev TO $50 feet in height His friend
asserted that the wellinstouia woud live TO be 1000
wears old He declared that the Sequoia already
35uO wears old. His friend said the gtonia
was the largest tree on earth and would become
twenty eet diameter. He stated that California had
Se1uoias 100 feet in circumference And thus the
conversation ran on, each side representing the
national opinion of the proper name OF the tree with
out once admitting that there was any controversy
American botanists had classified the tree as !he
Westinghouse ggantia Finally German publica-
tion OF about fifty years ago found in which the
tree was fully described and pictured and named tho
Sequoia Amsrcana gigantic. The work was by the
botan.t who accompanied the second expedition OF
exploration sent to this coast by our Government,
who German and who was taken by tie indIah
chief SeIuoa into these wonderful groves by lonely
trail of several hundred miles, aud he named them IN
honor OF the chief. This publication was in twenty
volumes precludng its general circulation; ana "a
the German had sent large quantities OF ssod to
England from which the s0-caled Well ngtonia was
produced il WAS about time that England's claim to
have given the tree TO America was advanced by
every one who hoped 10 see the Queens Jubilee.
However, il il now understood, and Sir Joseph
Hooker, the leading botanical authority OF Great
Britain comedies tie palm, the pine, to America.
California has been granted here by the United
States Jour sections of land two mile, square, and
on one of the half sections there are 334 of these
Sequoas from six feet to thirty 'e feet in diameter
and on tie other bali sections there are rs
many as 20 thu ough the eye OF Ceopatras Needle
in Central Park Professor Whitney states there Is
no tree tere higher than 270 feet whereas Clarence
King, by careful triangulstio"s, demonstrated
that more than in plain sight, right under the
Professors nose, IL 1877 feet hi.h-eighty- feet
higher than Trinity Church steoplsl
The Grizzly Giants' first branch Is ninety feet
above ground and six feet in diameter. The Three
Gracss give promise of the race that Is to be-each
one holds up her head 800 feet. Washington
Yae,". Columbia" Harvard. he Three SEMI
nels" " The Faithful Couple The Telescope
stand for higher educatoo the national defence, the
anti Mormon family Institution, and the thirty
appropriate to give proper names tor this prof. or KIND
vi trees. Each one is " Nonc-sueb.'
Tho elevation here IS higher THAI Mount Washing
ton it Ia O. 600 feet. What difference between the
Atlantic ana Pacific coasts In vegetation! Mount
Washington Is barren as the roof OF the Metropolitan
Opera House. There is out little underbrLsb here,
and the grasses annually sought BY docks OF
sheep but the rhearng gtaziers, as tney drive AWAY
fire that little as 10 improve the pastnrage Tor
another year, careless OF the immense destruction
caused by their hies. The big trees have been the
means OF stopping these fcs although OF the expense
Of terrible scorchngs themseyes-ths price often paid
BIZ rescuing hremen. loo immense 70 be destroyed by
gin gle hagraton some oil the big trees have ielt
many which have let the surrounding country as
black AS a coal mine But the yandals have shortened
will live tor three four thousand years Jet Sthi'
allowing onl, hundred years abbreviation on
account OF these nres, the time vii come when they
will be no more, and we should now shed bitter tosrs
TOR Tost~rity.
green and email its Leaf pass between Monterey
eve ress aud q cedar OF Lebanon. A fallen Mo march
OF the Forest lying just whore Steve Gun 1ingham
reyel, in the title OF " Custodian OF the Manposa
Grove OF Big Trees of he holds them In his
fist or he does mott, pronounced 800 feet long,
without its disappeared tops, by Miss Kate Field who
left her footprints the sands OF time when she
paced L. Professor Whitney did not observe this
one. as he gazing up at some OF the growing
giants and tell backward over it-up one side and
down the other.
At that remarkable city, Pullman. Ill., these State
initials always make me feel sick they have taken to
identifying some OF their shampoong and bathing
saloon ears with wood the babies beng the only
kind that be nspored and OF them iurnish-
ing 900 feet OF lumber Tor interiors The chief
attrs otion OF the Edinburgh Exposition OF 1884 was
srction OF the bark OF Sequoia thirteen ieot IN
d's meter that being considered the largest dose oil
extract OF bark which Aud Reek:e would swallow.
There is not swing iron any OF these trees indeed,
it IL asserted that nobody ever climbed one Their
heights have been nscertained Dy measuring II cir
VS. bat should think that measuring their sui
stance with plumb line from yard
at the top. would cover professor w Min
moi include that yard from the top for yard be
an mmeasurabiityi Eastern groves, parks. forests,
shrink into dwarfdom in this vegetable kingdom.
But the big trees are only one Of the many, many
wonders and attractions greeting aud gratifying the
from the hand Of Nature Is magnificent, and whose
noble, energetic uniiying race OF men Ia 80 rcpuDu
can. New-York's spring exodus should no longer 90
carried By steamers the Atlantic, but by rail-
road, across the continent. Ever yours most truly,
Elliott r. SHEPARD.
Mariposa Grore Cal. July Ia, 1887.